Gladys Potter Garden

What a beautiful, quaint and unexpected little park! I happened to come across Gladys Potter Garden during a leisurely walk through the East Side — I had no idea this adorable little place even existed.
Gated and surrounded by a grove of trees, this park is very much for children and families — in fact, there was a child’s birthday party going on the day I strolled in. The park is full of climbing, sliding and dangling structures to keep kids busy and having fun. A few picnic tables are sprinkled throughout, too, making it an ideal place for a midday visit and a picnic lunch.
The gate to the garden holds a plaque explains who Gladys Potter was, and why this garden stands in her name. It’s worth a read and you’ll definitely appreciate this garden more after you do. Just lovely, and very much worth a visit!

If you live on the East Side of Providence, you’re most likely lacking one major thing — a big backyard. Back when I was single, a yard meant nothing to me. Now that I have a tiny baby — I can understand why parents like some wide open spaces for their tots to roam around.
Thank goodness for the Gladys Potter Garden. Its a gated large park, ideally meant for babies through preschoolers. There are plenty of benches, a picnic table, and paved pathways for little ones pushing themselves on their bikes or kid cars.
You’ll find an assortment of plastic toys, sandbox playthings, and several toddler appropriate plastic slides and playhouses.
Sure, the song «Island of Misfit Toys» will start playing through your head, because you know all of these items have been passed down from older kids. Maybe the color is faded, or a piece is missing. But to me, this park is a wonderland where toys and playgrounds get a second life.
In addition, if a toy breaks down — never fear — there are trash bins so that they may pass on to toy heaven.
Last, there is a tiny hill behind the swings, and every winter I see children sledding down it. Its not much, but perfect for a 3 year old ;)

Fantastic park for kids once they’re walking age (or slightly before), until I’d guess 5 or 6… I don’t know though, my kid is almost two — so anything older than that is guess-​work.
The standard slides are safe and easy for kiddos to walk up, but no open spaces at the top for them to fall through… great feature! But, what makes it really great is all the old play houses/​slides and cars and bikes that anybody can use.
Everybody I’d spoken with their has been friendly, and most of the kids are generally good co-​players (which is something that I rank very highly on the «willing-​to-​stay-​at-​the-​park» scale).

I’ve heard a lot about Gladys Potter Garden or the «baby playground» as a lot of the locals call it, but with its vague address, it was sort of like Brigadoon or Camelot to me. Sure, people talk about it, but do you know anyone who’s actually been there?
We decided to venture out today, between rainshowers, since my daughter’s interested in playgrounds, but isn’t ready for the big time yet. It’s literally at the corner of Humboldt and Elton Streets, though you could easily get to it from Blackstone Blvd. as well. It’s tucked away behind some nice, shady trees and surrounded by a wrought iron gate (though make sure it’s latched). The park itself, per the city, sits on 1 ¼ acres and was built during the Great Depression. Neither Elton or Humboldt is very busy, comparatively, and the area is wholly residential.
Inside, as my husband nicely put it, looks like the Land of Lost Preschool toys. You could probably establish a nice timeline with the different structures, from the old metal slide and arsenic-​laden pressure treated platform to the newer, green and black plastic and multiple slide structure. There’s three bars of swings: a single two-​swing big kid one and two three-​swing baby one. All are high enough for an average sized adult to push their kid comfortably, but there’s no chance of an older kid being able to get on themselves and swing.
There’s a mishmash of other toys strewn around, the Fisher-​Price and Lil Tykes you’d find in someone’s yard or at a small daycare. They’re in varying age and condition, from practically new to sun-​bleached and missing bits. I’m assuming this is a community playground and people donate them. There did seem to be a bin where, in theory, some of these toys would be stored. There are also several bikes, from push-​a-​long Radio Flyer tricycles to big kid two wheelers.
There’s a fairly steep hill in the back, which had some older kids careening down in plastic cars. That, personally, was too close to the swings and the metal slide for my comfort, but hey, not my kids. The rest of the park is grass and mulch with concrete walkways throughout. This is old school mulch, by the way, the kind that you spend most of your time fishing out of your kid’s mouth. The grass was a little on the high side, but overall, the area was fairly neat and trash-​free. There are a couple picnic tables closer to streetside.
What I really liked where the two sets of sculptures. To the left, while facing the street, there are three green frogs in varying sizes and poses and to the right is a large blue dolphin. I’m not sure how much my daughter cared about them, but I thought they were cool. Near the dolphin sculpture is a red aeroplane seesaw/​rocker. It shows its age a bit, the propellers the wheel once controlled are long gone, but it’s well anchored and my daughter had a great time on it.
There’s no ball field, though there’s certainly room in the centre for a game of catch, and it’s a little hilly to just run around for the younger set. As said before, the mulch makes for a great game of «Don’t Eat That». It would be a great place for a picnic, however, and it was small enough not to be overwhelming but also had enough structures to keep multiple ages occupied. When we were there (2ish on a Saturday), there were only two other families and a man playing guitar on one of the benches.
It probably wouldn’t be a first choice for me to go back right now. My daughter’s young and the playground in Lippett Park offers more children and a wider variety of playground equipment, but it’s good for a low-​key afternoon.
Some final, non-​kid perks: it’s less than a quarter mile from Starbucks (bathrooms), a CVS, and an ice cream place (Mad Ernie’s?). A bit more would bring you right into Wayland Square’s shopping area, including a toy store. A bit further and you could walk to Whole Foods or Wayland Square Bakery.